Warriors fall to unbeaten Sandburg

By Eddie Burns

Waubonsie Valley’s reign at the Naperville Invitational is in serious jeopardy.

The Warriors, who have won this event three years running, were dealt a 2-0 loss by Sandburg on Friday night in pool play action at Naperville North.

The loss was Waubonsie’s first of the season as they stand at 9-1-1 while the Eagles remained undefeated at 9-0-1.

Waubonsie’s players and coaches felt that the defeat might have been a simple case of the Warriors’ schedule catching up with the team since Friday’s match was the squad’s fourth in five nights.

“I don’t think we played horrible, but we never really seemed to get our passes together,” Waubonsie’s Vanessa DiBernardo said. “We were trying to send the ball and we just couldn’t get our legs ready to go. Our legs were just heavy. The physical style of play that we were trying to go for just wasn’t there for us, so we couldn’t adjust. We’ll have to learn from this.”

Waubonsie junior midfielder Megan Green said the Warriors learned that they can’t play a certain style when they are fatigued.

“When we are tired we need to realize that we can’t play balls directly forward – we need to play the ball more to feet,” Green said. “Sandburg did that -- especially in the back and they made us work.”

Sandburg netted its first goal a few minutes before halftime when Leah Manning made a run along the sideline and then played a cross right to the feet of teammate Colleen McMahon, who easily flipped a shot past Waubonsie goalie Allison Fox in the 38th minute to give Sandburg a 1-0 advantage at intermission.

“That was a perfect ball form Leah,” McMahon said. “I didn’t have to do much except tap the ball in the goal.”

The Eagles made it two-goal lead when Shannon Sterns sent a perfectly placed shot past Fox midway through the second half.

Waubonsie’s scoring chances were few and far between, but Sandburg goalie Victoria Kappel made a big save on a DiBernardo blast in the 55th minute. Mary Wright had Waubonsie’s best chance when she saw a shot bang off the post in the 76th minute.

For the most part, the Warriors’ offensive attack was stymied by Sandburg’s solid back line which consistently featured Leah Manning, Carson Moesle, Lauren Solomon and Nakita Jhanji.

Once the Eagles had the lead, they even dropped up to six players along the back line.
“(Sandburg) passes the ball unlike most high school teams I’ve seen,” DiBernardo said. “They passed the ball and didn’t just kick it. They worked it around.”

For Sandburg, the victory proved to be one of great satisfaction.

“Waubonsie is a good test for us not only because they are a phenomenal program that year after year always competes for a state championship, but they are similar to the teams that we need to face in our sectional,” Eagles’ coach Desi Vuillaume said. “We wanted to use them a gauge of how we are progressing through the season. It is a good confidence booster for us.”

Sandburg won this game without two of its best offensive threats who sat out because of injury in senior midfielder Allie Osoba and freshman forward Paige Bendell.

“We knew we were up against a big team tonight and we knew it would be hard down two of our starters, but we just proved how tough we can be when we come together as a team like we did tonight,” McMahon said.

This was the Warriors’ first loss to a team outside of Naperville for the first time in more than three seasons. In 2007 and 2008, Waubonsie did not lose a match on its way to claiming back to back state championships. The Warriors’ lost four times a season ago, but they were to Naperville Central, Neuqua Valley and twice to Naperville North.

“Everything happens for a reason and we’ll learn from it,” Green said. “If you never lose, you’ll never realize what you are doing wrong. Losing can be hard on a team, but it can also benefit a team.”

DiBernardo said the team will take the weekend to rest and by Monday the loss will be a distant memory.

“Physically I think we’re spent,” DiBernardo said. “We get the next two days off and I think on Monday we’ll be ready mentally and physically to put this game behind us.”

Waubonsie returns to Upstate Eight Conference action at home Tuesday against Lake Park.